A review by belle_fiction
Batgirl, Volume 2: Knightfall Descends by Gail Simone

5.0

Ooooooh, the madness, mayhem and murder continues!

I absolutely loved this sequel and Simone's writing continues to shine in Knightfall Descends. This collection focuses on Batgirl's kick-ass encounters with Mirror, Gretel and Grotesque who all have their various reasons and background stories for embracing their dark side.

We are also introduced to Barbara's brother, James Jr. who has escaped from Arkham Asylum. Now, I feel wrong saying this but I kinda have a thing for James Jr. He's pretty charming-looking.

In other news, Barbara's mom has come back on the scene and revealed the reason she left them was because of James Jr.'s strange behaviour and the supposed murder of their family pet cat, Alaska. HOWEVER...Alaska turns up later on after James Jr. befriends Barbara's roommate and gives her the cat as a present (this was pretty random I have to say but hey-ho it's a superhero comic).

Then, about halfway through Knightfall Descends, we really get a taste of the big story in this collection which focuses on Charise Carnes (aka Knightfall) and her crew (Bonebreaker, Katharsis and Bleak Michael) attempting to slaughter all of the criminals in Gotham in the quest of ridding the city of crime and any foul play. They set bear traps for petty car thieves and are hellbent on torturing the life out of Ricky. It's pretty graphic in places, but thankfully nothing too gruesome.

It ends on so many cliffhangers including 1) James Jr. helped Knightfall in setting up a showdown with his sister, Batgirl, so he is sure to be a recurring face on the scene, 2) the paralysis of Barbara Gordon looks set to repeat itself but this time the victim is her mom and 3) the three villains Batgirl took out before (Mirror, Gretel and Grotesque) have all been aided by Knightfall's crew with the sole intention of killing Batgirl.

So, there you have it. Plenty of action to get your teeth stuck into, plus what I can only describe as a nail-biting Volume 3 promising much much more of the same.